This season is all about the popcorn-munching drama, from erotic thrillers to court drama.
The team split up the three-episode reviews between staff volunteers, with one person putting together a short(ish) review on each series. Like we do with our check-in podcasts, we started from the bottom of our Premiere Digest list and worked our way up.
If we didn’t watch a show for at least three episodes, we skipped it, and we’ve used nice bold headers to help you quickly jump to the shows you’re interested in. We’ve also excluded shows that are continuing on in basically the same vein as our premiere review to conserve space. Unless specifically noted, we will not be mentioning overt spoilers for anything beyond episode three.
We don’t have the time to keep up with everything, so please let us know about any gems we might be missing in the comments!
Wondering, “hey, where’s the show I’m into?!” As we mentioned, we’re not able to cover everything every season—but we’d like to. In fact, we made it a funding goal. So you can make your dream a reality!
“Staying the Course” Digest
We’re still enjoying and watching these shows. However, they’re not doing anything dramatically different in terms of themes, characters, etc., so there isn’t anything new to write about them. Please check out the premiere review for details:
Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga li
Chiaki: It’s hard to approve of anything in Yakuza Fiancé, very much like how I would feel dealing with the mob on anything, but perhaps Kirishima is a spiritually true character in that respect. Despite all the smiles and professions of love for Yoshino, I trust him as much as I trust the real mob on Halloween, and in those moments where you’re reminded that he really is as terrifying as you fear he is, it’s clear in no uncertain terms that he is not a good person. But just like getting those full-size candy bars from the local mob boss, Yakuza Fiancé continues to be oh-so-wonderful to take in and consume.
As much as his obsession for Yoshino makes him a genuinely caring partner in his own way, his unhinged nature means he’s ready to essentially just kill a guy for laying a finger on her. And I mean obsessed and unhinged, because the dude is ready to talk about how much he loves Yoshino mid-cunnlingus on another girl if given the chance. And oh yeah, let me just put it out there, episode three just straight up starts with Kirishima eating a girl (not Yoshino) out, which isn’t unprecedented in an anime, but it’s been a while since that’s really happened so explicitly, and without warning.
Yoshino meanwhile still doesn’t really like Kirishima, which is more than fair (he bugged her with a GPS tracker after all), but finds herself navigating around him because of mob politics. And with the introduction of her old friend Shoma, it’s increasingly looking more like damage control rather than a tug of war of hearts as the heroine must figure out how to keep two unhinged men at bay so that they don’t kill each other over her.
Again, this is all consumable garbage, the veritable Flamin’ Hot Cheetos of anime. Kirishima’s going to get Red 40 dye on everything he touches, but damn is this show spicy.
HAIGAKURA
Spoilers: Discussion of Episode 4
Vrai: Did you watch the first episode of this? If not, don’t worry. The second episode basically throws it out the window, abandoning half the cast as Ichiyo and Tenko arrive in Japan for an episodic adventure. Then episode three starts over again with Ichiyo’s past, how he met Tenko, and why he’s on his quest to capture the Four Evils (answer: they all dipped on their job to hold up the pillars of the earth, and Ichiyo’s adoptive dad has been doing the work basically alone since then). It is a narrative mess, the hallmark of a show that’s been running for over a decade with no sign of ending yet that clearly runs at least half on vibes.
There’s not nothing here. The show landed in red flags partly for some weird infantilized fanservice and a comedy pedophile (both those characters have vanished), and partly because the Kashi system of “purifying” gods into servitude seems pretty like slavery with extra steps. Ichiyo clearly detests the system of power as it exists (he’s possibly a god himself?), but he’s chosen to join the enslaver class because it’s the only path he can see to rescuing his father. That’s fraught! But interesting! But….well, there’s the whole “no end in sight” and “started over three times in as many episodes” issue. I would forgive the manga more for taking a while to figure out its footing, but you’d think such a late adaptation would iron out the bumps based on where the story ended up going. Instead, we get an absolute charnel house of concepts that juggle names and concepts so quickly that none of them have a chance to feel important.
Ichiyo and Tenko are the only fully formed characters thus far, making it hard to believe the story can handle such delicate subject matter with any grace in the subject matter, let alone it what will surely only be a 12-episode adaptation. I suppose I should be concerned about future shotabait, since we find out Ichiyo contracted Tenko when he was a kid, but the child character designs are so hideous and the writing so haphazard that I have trouble imagining it making the concerted effort to be creepy. Thus far the obvious bait has all been with adult!Ichiyo, anyhow. On top of that, it’s too muddled to maintain the particular throwback charm that struck me with the premiere, so I’ll probably be dropping this one.
The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor
Alex: The elephant in the room (or perhaps the dragon in the room) re: Do-Over Damsel is the age gap. And we do need to talk about it, because it’s a very uncomfortable distraction in an otherwise pretty compelling and fun show. Every time I’m enjoying myself with the intrigue and fantasy action, Hadis shows up trying to be cute with his child bride and gives me an awful jump-scare.
Plotlines where characters are zapped back in time and stuck in the body of their own younger self don’t tend to be my cup of tea, but I can see the storytelling logic of it here. Jill’s armed with her knowledge of the future as well as her own social and political savvy (and, it turns out, some of the physical strength and magical ability that made her a stand-out knight), but as a child in a kingdom that’s hostile to her, she’s trapped in a position without much agency. This precarious balance of power creates some nice tension and stakes. Jill’s a compelling, capable character and it’s interesting being in her headspace while she navigates this whole debacle—and it’s rewarding seeing her tactics succeed. After some build-up, Episode 3 gives us some fun action and the wonderfully bonkers experience of watching a dainty, small girl punch through a stone wall and command a military force. In spite of all obstacles, Jill’s just that good, and you know what? Good for her.
So, the problem is not that Jill is running around in a child’s body with the mind and machinations of her older self. The problem is that the ambiguously-adult-looking Emperor Hadis is written to be romantically interested in her while she appears to be about ten. He’s not skeevy about it—if anything, his whole demeanor is very chaste, focused on things like baking when it comes to “wooing” his bride. But there’s just no getting past the fact that he’s treating this young girl as wife material, zooming straight past the potential for a platonic political marriage (which is how Jill is treating things) and into blushing devotion. Both Jill and dragon sidekick Rave keep making sideways glances at Hadis and joking about how weird it is that he’s so ready to marry a child, but as always, an awkward comedic acknowledgement of the thing you’re doing does not remove that thing from the story nor absolve that thing of its problematic quality.
Also, apparently, Hadis has previously decreed that his fiancée must be no older than 14 (Jill’s “rival in love” laments that she’s a full 16 years old and thus out of the running). I have a feeling in my bones that this will turn out to relate to his supposed curse or be a misread clause of some sort of prophecy, but as it is now it’s… well, to use the official literary terminology, yikes! I’d like to re-emphasize that this man is being presented as the series’ benevolent, adorable love interest. Meanwhile, there’s also a scene where Jill looks at her betrothed and muses that “You just can’t help looking after him. He’s like a little brother you just can’t hate.” Just, you know, to make the whole dynamic odd and off-putting in a new way.
And all of this is a shame, because Do-Over Damsel is honestly a really entertaining watch whenever Hadis and the romantic subplot isn’t onscreen. Jill is a cool and nicely-written female lead. The story is tropey but compelling. It is very watchable, and I’m going to keep watching because I need to know how on earth the show continues down this strange and rocky road it’s decided to ride on, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for turning away.
Uzumaki
Spoilers for the full miniseries
Toni: Sigh.
Okay, this sucked. I have never in my life seen a show faceplant as hard as Uzumaki did from Episode 1 into Episode 2. What was previously an at least coherent, beautifully animated tribute to Ito’s manga, even if it was playing a bit like a “Greatest Hits” style OVA, became a rushed, horrendous looking mess.
Because this is Anime Feminist, I suppose I should elaborate on how this show does thematically with gender, fatness, etc etc etc blah blah. Yes, it stinks with fatness. The fat kid is bullied and is patient zero for the snailfication epidemic. Yes, pregnant women are made into horrifying monsters feeding on people’s flesh. blah blah blah.
But honestly, what is more upsetting is how Kyrie, who by all accounts has a real personality in the manga, is rendered into a nothingburger of a character. She is little more than a human camera through whose eyes we see the horrible things that happen. Nothing that happens to her is treated with any seriousness whatsoever. Her hair becomes sentient? Who cares. She was nearly immolated? Next chapter! Her boyfriend joined in the cannibalism? Nothing to see here folks. There is no processing. No learning. Nothing that would indicate that she has any interiority. All is surgically removed so we can breeze through the story as fast as possible.
Visually, everything went completely to shit in episode 2, and didn’t get much better episodes 3-4. The first part of Episode 3 was fine, I suppose, but the lack of any sense of psychology of the characters made it a grotesque curiosity at best.
Eat shit, Toonami
I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History
Spoilers: Discussion of Episode 4
Chiaki: As much as we appreciate Alicia for women’s wrongs, she does more right than anything and her childhood years get her villainy mistaken for precociousness more than anything. She is, at the heart of it all, ironically the heroine to this story and remains incredibly likable to both the viewer and the people around her.
Yes, she’s the eeeeeevil villain, look at her, saving an orphan from death so that she can use him at her whim. But anyone serving her should be properly equipped, so of course he should be fed, and clothed, and educated, and cared for when sick, and— SHE’S A SCAAAAARRYY VILLAIN EVERYBODY.
The show pretty much has to hand her a royally sanctioned mission to be a mean girl for her to finally embrace being a villainess, and that’s where we’re at with Episode 4. It seems like Alicia is finally making herself genuinely unlikeable to some people in an effort to play the heel, but it’s hard to gauge if this front holds up. It all depends on how much stock the other boys and girls at the magic academy put into the whole villainess thing.
It’s still too early to say if her flippant and rude acts will actually be taken with offense, or if Liz and the gang all kinda see through it and go, “you’re just giving me tough love.”
Ranma ½ (2024)
Spoilers: Discussion of Episode 4
Vrai: Chalk me up as one of those millennials that had their egg, if not cracked, then at least seriously dented by Ranma in middle school. Seriously, who wouldn’t want a “curse” that lets them flip gender at will? I was more of a manga reader, since I could only get a few stray episodes and one of the (uh, breastier) movies, but I retain warm feelings about that time. Warm, but also…complicated.
Ranma is an absurd slapstick comedy, and its martial arts battles look mighty fine. I’m still not the biggest fan of the new color palette, but the ultra-saturated shades of the fight scenes, the on-screen sound effects, touches of paneling (though not the iconic hair-cut frame), and even a little Street Fighter homage really suit the playful atmosphere. It’s going at about 1.5 speed compared to the old series (as I recall it), but given how broad the characters are and the series’ trouble with repetitive jokes over time, I can’t say that it’s a bad thing here. It still finds moments to catch its breath without having to reiterate each character’s one schtick every episode, and I count that as a bonus.
Which is good, because the other thing Ranma’s got going on is comedy about the absurdity of gender roles. This is a world full of idiots who fight at the drop of the hat, so it can be equally stupid when they tie their battles about honor and marriage to prescriptions about what it’s acceptable for a “man” or a “woman” to do. Ranma gets dysphoric about his body changing, but he’s also self-conscious about liking “girly” things in his boy form and eventually happy to use his girl form to take advantage of his opponents’ outdated chivalry. Akane hates boys, but why wouldn’t she when not a single one in her life has ever taken what she has to say seriously? At the same time, she’s still all-too-ready to blame Ranma for things that aren’t his fault….except then he’ll go and say something shitty about her body. There is a lot of slapping going on here, but it’s easier to shrug off than in old harem shows because of the martial arts setting.
Speaking of everyday sexism, let’s talk about that faster pace. At heart, this is a show that knows gender roles are constricting and infuriating but hasn’t thought about that outside of the thematic equivalent of a vent post. Part of that is what’s allowed it to speak so well as a fantasy to viewers across the gender spectrum; on the other, it doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny outside the vibes (does Akane’s hostility toward Ranma just trying to take a bath dovetail into modern trans panic narratives?) and it can be incredibly shitty to characters who are queer or purposefully gender-nonconforming. On top of that, old Ranma, manga and anime alike, ran on for an eternity and had a strong sitcom logic to it: any growth got reset, but Akane being insulted for her insufficient femininity or Ranma getting groped for comedy remained go-to—such that they eventually start to outweigh the thoughtfulness and become lazy stopgaps to keep the plot a-spinning.
It also just feels a bit odd to cut down on the horniness of the original (RIP Ranma’s nipples) but keep moments like a “looking up Akane’s skirt” gag sans actual panty shot. It’s not a funny joke, it’s not fan service, and it doesn’t endear me to Ranma as a character. It leaves me sort of uncertain where mood-killers like Happosai will end. But hey, at least they fixed the spring guide’s design and he doesn’t speak like a caricature anymore (at least in the dub)! Now we just have to see what happens to Shampoo….
Nina the Starry Bride
Alex: Starry Bride is playing with some really cool concepts in an interesting setting, but it’s suffering from some odd pacing issues. Episodes 2 and 3 settle into a rocky rhythm where Nina breaks out of her palace confines and does something she’s not supposed to, and then needs to be rescued, again and again. It’s a writing decision that makes Nina seem much dumber than she should be, all things considered. It’s been firmly established that she’s a political pawn in a dangerous position and needs to keep her identity hidden, but she apparently needs to be re-reminded of this twice an episode—and surely as a former street kid she’s more savvy than that! Likewise, she comes to big emotional conclusions—such as declaring that Prince Azure and her ladies in waiting are her new family—when there hasn’t been enough build-up for it to really feel earned. I don’t want to jump in and assume that this is the adaptation rushing through the source material and doing it dirty, but I’d definitely be interested to hear if the manga also has this problem.
Still, when the pace calms down and her characterization isn’t sending her in all directions, Nina is a pretty interesting female lead, and I’m keen to see where she and her story ends up. The reveal that Azure is also a body double, taken from his family and trained to emulate a dead royal, is an intriguing early twist that also works to even the power dynamic between him and Nina (important, as they’re very much established as love interests by now—there’s that fast pacing again!). The two have a mutual understanding and a shared situation, and the show has the opportunity to delve further into themes about personhood, exploring two leads who have been asked to abandon all sense of their own identity in order to protect the more nebulous concept of The Good of the Nation.
So it’s wobbly, but I feel like there’s a lot of potential here, and I’m hoping the show continues to grow. It would be nice if Nina didn’t make quite so many dramatic mistakes and need quite so much rescuing; and it would be nice if we could get some more female characters aside from the kind but very under-characterized ladies in waiting and, on the other end of the spectrum, the evil scheming queen.
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.
Alex: Despite Kana’s initial shock and the Very Scary visual framing of his character intro, boss man Shigemoto, and the fact he happens to come to the office decked out in frilly magical girl garb, has been very much treated as a non-issue since Episode 1. It’s simply one of the quirks of office life, and played as equally startling (at least, to newbie and POV character Kana) as the company tech-nerd’s enthusiasm for the technology of magical girl transformations. Kana is also the only cast member who seems to think Shigemoto’s sense of style is odd. The others make no comment except for when they compliment his new choice of ribbon or offer sincere feedback (which he takes seriously, as he deeply respects all aspects of the magical girl trade). So yes, the initial framing is deeply unfortunate, because the show is otherwise being quite matter-of-fact and sweet-natured about having a feminine-presenting man as one of its main characters.
As Vrai noted in the premiere review, there may be some outdated cliches to unpack as we learn more about Shigemoto’s backstory, but I figure we can cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I’m honestly enjoying him as a character. He’s a character, for one thing, rather than a one-off joke, and he seems to be a genuinely good boss who supports innovation and encourages Kana’s confidence and professional growth. The team has a good rapport and, while some of the cast remain undercooked at this early stage, there’s a fun chemistry among the characters, and the humor leans on “this is a found family of eccentric goofballs” rather than a more mean-spirited “these guys all hate each other, look at them bicker” style of workplace comedy.
As the head of a plucky start-up that respects their employees and the integrity of magical girls, Shigemoto is also being set up as the foil to our presumed antagonist: the CEO of a magical girl megacorp that only cares about profits. Could it be that the monsters are the villains of the week, but the ultimate evil is capitalism? Some clunky bits aside, Magilumiere is charming enough that I’m inclined to keep watching and find out.
How I Attended an All-Guys’ Mixer
Caitlin: Gender is a performance, and How I Attended an All-Guys’ Mixer is well aware of that. After the premiere, the subsequent episodes have put a spotlight on the performativity inherent in the drag kings’ job, especially through Kohaku. It turns out, all the employees at the bar have assigned personas that they’re supposed to put on for their customers – not a surprise to anyone who has watched Ouran High School Host Club. While Suo and Fuji’s personalities are close to the prince and apathetic archetypes they’re acting out, Kohaku doesn’t feel fully comfortable as the “bossy” type.
More importantly, the story goes into how even though she’s a cis woman in drag, she feels obligated to conform to gendered expectations in boy mode. Frilly parfaits are considered girly, so even if she loves sweets, she feels like she can’t get one while dressed as a boy because she overheard a couple girls talking about how it’s lame when guys get them. It’s not fair to her or the boys who live every day of their lives under those expectations, and as someone who is putting on an act, she has a harder time shrugging them off than Hagi. Though I am cis myself, I have a feeling there’s a lot to dig into there with trans identities.
But fellas, is it gay for a man to be attracted to a butch woman? Your answer to the question will heavily inform how you respond to the romance aspect. Hagi himself is spending the most time grappling with this, because while he considers himself attracted to cute girls, he gets turned on by Kohaku acting cool and masculine to the point that he’s starting to question his sexuality. Tokiwa is going through something similar, albeit less strongly, and is definitely into it when Suo acts princely toward him. Asagi, meanwhile, is totally down for anything, no thoughts, head empty.
Different people are going to react differently to this – personally, I like the flexible, playful attitude toward gender and attraction. Others may find it to lack genuine queerness, since it’s about cishet men getting together with cishet women, no matter how they’re dressed or performing gender. While we’ve seen a sharp increase in the number of manga with trans themes, anime has been slow to follow suit. I fully admit gender-nonconforming heterosexual romance is something I’m specifically into, so if anything, I’m a little disappointed none of the girls are butch outside of work mode.
A few more quibbles: when the characters go on dates, there are still onlookers gasping over the sight of two “men” flirting, which is pretty fetishizing. I also feel like the show keeps coming up with excuses for the girls to spend time outside of work in boy mode. In one scene, Asagi goes to Fuji’s apartment and finds her in casual clothes but still wearing her wig and binder. Having worn wigs and restrictive bras before, though not a full-on binder, I have a hard time believing those aren’t the first things Fuji would take off if she’s not wearing them for personal gender reasons.
Dan Da Dan
Spoilers: Discussion of episode 4
Cy: I’m not gonna lie: Saturdays in the Catwell household are for Dan Da Dan and whatever else comes out because wow, does this autumnal premiere continues to shock and awe even in its quietest moments, including up through episode 4 which seems like it’s bringing an end to the opening arc of this fantastic show.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t too sure I’d be into Dan Da Dan, and honestly, I think it was because of episode 1’s incredibly overt and discomforting banana organ snatching scene. However, I’m happy to report that talk about banana organs–including Okarun’s missing genitalia–have largely gone away outside of a few mentions, opening the show up to exploring the why of Turbo Granny, the depth of Okarun and Ayase’s abilities, and the spirits inhabiting 21st century Japan, as well as the overall supernatural-meets-science plotline, though these first episodes are definitely more supernatural, though thankfully, not Supernatural. If anything, they’re incredibly engrossing, providing a clear trajectory that is friendship and comrades and the veeeery first glimpses of romance simultaneously. This is a literal power pairing I could root for through every foible that stands between them and the super scary, supernatural world and the realm of extraterrestrials, and trust me: there’s teenage foible street foible to the point that Amaterasu herself must want these kids alive because they should be dead ten times over. Combine all that with a banger soundtrack (I’m thinking of you EDM mix of the William Tell Overture in episode 4) and you have a show that understands its narrative, knows its worth, and has the budget to back it up and actually pay off plot beats and create wonderful interstitial moments.
There’s very little I don’t like about Dan Da Dan in the context of the show though one thing I can’t seem to let go of is its overt Black influence in terms of the OP, as well as the show robbing Okarun of his fade. Do you know how hard it is to get a good fade when you’ve got textured hair? Right the wrong, Science Saru: repatriate my boy’s hair! Jokes aside, I find it fascinating how much Black culture crops up in these first episodes: it’s in the opening and definitely in some of the music choices and the slang of the dub, which is how I’m watching. I wonder if that’s going to creep into the show material itself or just remain a surface level aesthetic. Hard to say when the world loves Black culture, but isn’t necessarily interested in interrogating that relationship past stylish clothes and Chicago juke-meets-Jersey club beats.
Ultimately, a really good show that’s still a bit complicated but may have that feminist potential we all crave from shonen series, though even if it doesn’t, there’s a really strong narrative of identity and seeking understanding from the entities that share the universe with us, even if they’re a grandmother who can run at the same speed as a bullet train. Not sure about those Serpos though…but I have no worry about Dan Da Dan guiding the plot back around to them again.
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians
Spoilers: Discussion of episode 4
Caitlin: Four episodes in may be too early to say for sure, but The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians feels somewhat muddled in its messages. The story feels largely like a mashup of Witch Hat Atelier and Little Witch Academia, which are both about access to education and examining what class and inborn ability means. However, it hasn’t yet developed the clarity of message that either one had even in the beginning stages of the stories.
I have questions about Minami Suzuki’s declaration that she was going to turn the whole regular class into mages, for one thing. In the first episode, Kurumi was scolded for her open disappointment at not being accepted into the magical course, when for her classmates, getting into the regular class was a dream for them. They all have their own interests and goals, and the second episode delves into that a bit deeper. One guy wants to be an opera singer, one wants to set up a railway in his town, and so on. Kurumi’s friend Saki wants to become a dancer. And for all that Minami-sensei says that magic will help them on their goals, I want to ask… is it really necessary, though? And since they don’t have access to the same materials as the magic students, they must learn to draw the incantations by hand, which requires a lot of precision. This is time they could be spending on developing their craft instead!
It feels a bit to me like if I were sitting in a linguistics classroom and a professor came in and announced we would all be studying biomedical engineering, a program my university was renowned for. Sure, BME would be a more lucrative career field, and there may be places where it ties in with linguistics, but I would be furious if I had to spend my days learning how to do equations because I wasn’t allowed to get one of the fancy graphing calculators that all the engineering students use. There are some broader conspiracies going on to be sure, but the way Minami-sensei forces all her students to learn magic, regardless of whether it’s actually something they desire doesn’t sit right with me.
Acro Trip
Toni: I suppose I should address up top that there is an inordinately complex situation with Acro Trip’s funding that involves journalist-killing Saudi princes, the return of industry pariah Stu Levy, large media conglomerates, and just general business shadiness. While I will let the actual anime journalism websites cover the details of this, it’s worth noting that this is not a majority of this anime’s funding, and unethical business practices along the anime production pipeline are a systemic issue, so we will continue covering this anime, even as this definitely mars our perception of it.
It’s a damn shame because Acro Trip is very fun. Part of what makes it funny is that Berry Blossom is objectively the worst. Her punishments for Chrome for being… creepy? Mildly inconvenient? Are so outlandishly disproportionate. She constantly destroys everything around her. She calls the cops whenever there’s real danger. It’s gotten to the point where I genuinely think her mascot Mashiro is gonna pull a Kyubey and reveal himself to be the real villain of the show.
Meanwhile, Date Chizuko’s grandfather has definitely seen things. The man is secretly ripped—everything he does is hilarious. I want to know everything about him—heck, I want a spinoff anime. Just about him.
I honestly just want to see Date come out of the bushes and be a “villainess” in her own right. (Those quotation marks are doing a lot of work, by the way.) So far she has almost entirely just been the brains behind Chrome’s operation, and while that could be fine for a bit longer, it is starting to get old.
365 Days to the Wedding
Chiaki: Alex hit the nail on the head with their read on 365, as the series continues along and keeps apace. The challenge of neurotypical heteronormative masking continues as a theme, and Takuya and Rika’s ruse encounters their first real snag in the second episode as an unknown blackmailer enters the fray. While the couple might have hoped to coast for the next year and have everyone in their office complacent to their ruse, the imminent threat of someone constantly calling and questioning their relationship drives the couple to act “normal.”
The blackmailer adds some gravity to the story and lends a reason for the two to keep interacting and developing their fake relationship into something that will in all likelihood become a frank one, that pressure does double down on the frustration of social expectations. Whether it’s hosting a party or meeting the in-laws, there’s a lot of assumption that gets developed for couples. Even if Rika and Takuya weren’t faking their relationship, some of those expectations makes one wonder if all of this is even necessary. After all, on the other end of the spectrum, some people just elope if they’re sick of the familial or social responsibilities impressed upon them.
And while the story naturally nudges the two onward to learn more about each other and develop genuine feelings, it does take some time to tell the audience that living up to expectations kinda sucks sometimes. In the third episode, Takuya is tasked with chaperoning a foreign country’s princess on her vacation in Japan, and through that proxy, the show also makes sure to signal: “if societal pressures are making things irreconcilable, just hit da bricks.”
Good for your Princess Claudia. You’re so cringe, but you’re so free. Shine on ma’am.
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